FF Schulbuch

The name “Schulbuch” in the FF Schulbuch typefaces is German for “school book.” The family is a series of small type families that are named after regions in Germany: FF Schulbuch Nord for northern Germany, FF Schulbuch Süd for southern Germany, and FF Schulbuch Bayern for the state of Bavaria. All three families include Regular and Bold weights.

The typefaces themselves were drawn by Just van Rossum, and their letterforms are based on letterforms found in historical textbooks. In all of the fonts, single-story forms are used for the lowercase a and g.

FF Schulbuch Bayern’s letters are reminiscent of Futura. They have a low x-height, and feel somewhat narrow. FF Schulbuch Süd’s letters have a much larger x-height, and are also somewhat similar to Futura. However, the geometry of the letterforms is not as strong as in typefaces like ITC Avant Garde Gothic. Finally, FF Schulbuch Nord features letters that are somewhat more grotesk in style, like Helvetica. The capital R’s tail is very much like Helvtica’s, and the lowercase y has a curvy tail.

Like the FF Schulschrift typefaces, with their fresh and child-like appearance and charming variations, FF Schulbuch evokes a “classroom” feeling. This makes it ideal both for children’s books and school use, as well as for general language teaching.